cowpuc

Thanks Eckster - interesting read.. While I am EXTREMELY excited about and happy for the folks in the surrounding area down there as 1700 good paying jobs is serious economic stuff, it concerns me that they gave away so much in incentives to get Polaris there.. Major incentives can be dangerous ground and tricky stuff is all.. Having been witness to a number of business transactions similar to this, I also have concerns for anyone on the other end of the spectrum who might be loosing their employment as a result of this move - that is never fun.. On another note,,, if I worked for Polaris and they offered me a chance to move down to Bama I would JUMP at the chance just to eat at the resturant in the article - YUMMY YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!!!!!

ice

Two great minds and all that Skidder!!!

cream

raw

Having never actually been to Muskogee before, we really didnt know what to expect.. I had preconceived ideas about the place,, I figured there wouldn't be a bunch of kids standing around smoking wildwood flower but I half way thought there probably would be a few ol geezers giving away the greatest thrill of all, White Lightening samples on the corners.. We rode around the place and, not to my surprise,, didnt see or smell any hemp rope burning, on the same token we did not find any folks seeking the thrill of white lightening either... Actually,, Muskogee Oklahoma was a pretty neat place all in all.. Hoping to make Texas before dark, we headed that a way,, south toward the Lone Star State.. Things really started to quite down shortly after leaving Skogee,, the traffic was lighter and the Oklahoma evening was just starting to set in as we pulled into yet another really cool Oklahoma treasure.. Seemingly, my touch of Native American Indian blood increases my curiousity of their way of life. I also LOVE traveling the west, especially the hot desert regions.. Link those two together, plus the general freedom that is afforded with wide open country and it doesn't take much to see how Indian Reservations can become part of the CTFW equation.. Thru serendipity , I have found myself camping, riding and just generally goofing off on Indian land many times - for some reason though,, I never knew that Oklahoma had a share in the modern Native American way of life.. Stopping and learning about the Choctaw Indian's on our road to Texas was very interesting!!! The ride after bidding farewell to our Choctaw friends was perfect in everyway.. We headed south toward the Texas border during what I call, the "Magic Hours".. There has always been something very special, almost mystical, about the last couple hours of daylight just before its dark.. Its a short period of time that is a mixture of the calming of the soul after CTFW all day, combined with gorgeous sunsets and multiplied by the sweet smells of evening air filling ones senses.. Truly, it is pure motorcycling MAGIC for Tip, Tweek and I and we drank down every drop of magic as worked our way toward the Lone Star State.. I had NO idea that south Okie had so much water.. The area we went thru looked like a fishermans paradise.. Tippy loves to Bass Fish and, now that she has become an expert in reeling them in,, she can tell whether or not there are bass in certain waters just by the evening smell.. As we passed the waterway in the picture below she leaned forward, giggled and said "I smell Bass"!! Adding to the magic of the Magic Hours all the more! You ever heard the saying - "In Texas, everything is bigger"?.. You dont have to be right on top of the Oklahoma - Texas border to get a little more appreciation for that saying.. Even from a mile or more out,, the view on the roadway will exclaim clearly for you that indeed,, "In Texas, everything is bigger"!! It got dark pretty quickly after we left the Texas Welcome Center.. It was still plenty warm and completely rideable but, neither Tip or I really enjoy night riding that much - ya just seem to miss to much after dark.. As dark closed in on us, I could see the lights of a small city off in the distance so I gently coaxed Tweeks in that direction.. The town turned out to be a place called "Dennison".. As we strolled into town, I noticed an abandoned building with an overhang on the back of it,, I pointed at it and announced "Campground" to Tippy to let her know I found one first this time.. CTFWers dont live by sight alone, we decided to go find some dinner in Dennison before we tossed the tent down.. We were sitting in this little Mom n Pop Chicken Joint, knawing on a Chicken Leg, when this middle aged gentleman who was sitting behind us asked if the bike in the parking lot belonged to us (it was obvious).. I had seen him outside looking Tweeks over pretty good so I was not shocked at his curiousness.. He asked about our travels and, come to find out, had a few of his own that he shared about him and his boat.. At the end of our dinner conversation, he asked where we were staying for the night.. Tip and I looked at each and smiled,, I pointed out the front window toward the abandoned building "campground" that was a mile or so away and told him about it.. He looked at us with a smile on his face and said,, "I keep my boat at a Marina not to far from here, the place is called GrandPappy's - it has a camping area attached to it that is very well patrolled, has hot showers and its a really nice place, I can give you directions and permission to stay there if you would like"... We took this kind Texan up on his offer, tossed a leg over Tweeks and drove off into the darkness in search of a Marina called Grandpappys located somewhere outside of a town named Dennison which is somewhere in the great State of Texas located here in the USA.. One disadvantage of CTFWing and not carrying a GPS is that people will look at you kinda funny when you come riding into their establishment in Texas after midnight on a beat up ol motorcycle covered with stickers and sporting a historic plate from the State of Michigan all the while inquiring where the nearest Marina is located.. After chasing around the outskirts of Dennison, getting caught up in the moment a number of time and generally getting pretty lost,, Tippy and I got to experience this very thing,, twice as I recall.. Thankfully, the second time we asked was a winner and we finally found GrandPappy's.. As I caressed Tweeks mane to keep her as quite as possible while riding her thru the Marina Campground I KNEW we were gonna get busted.. Sure enough,, here came an S-10 Pickup with a bubble on top.. The lady driving the pickup listened to our story, smiled and said "Yep, I know,, he called and I have a perfect spot just waiting for you".. Tip and I looked at each other,, laughed and said COOL!! Apparently, a newly wed young couple had just got in a little fight,, something about one of them not really liking the camping scene.. They had left about an hour ago and the lady guard who found us in the campground had kept their campfire going just for us - UNREAL!!! We chatted for a long time,, she told us we could stay all week for free if we wanted... Sadly, we told her that we were headed toward a Graduation Party for our Daughter in Sacramento via the Alamo and Big Bend and we just couldn't afford the time.. After asking her if she would sign Tweeks (she did) and letting me snap a pic of her and Tip, she told us to help ourselves to the showers and bid us a good nights sleep - Tip, Tweeks and I thought we were gonna do just that but this certain big ol Crow had a different agenda in mind!!

wash

YOU DA MAN BOSS,, or,, you da man boss man... Anyway.. THANKS DON!!

line

control

Ant I am telling Dan you called him an enigma:yikes:

german

rat+fink=yammerdan

pill

Rats (as in to slow)

fink

River

BUT,,, Ensack is a word, now what do we do?? (got chur back Natty!!) Google Translate

hack

:rotfl:

Hi Dave, pleasure meeting you and welcome to VR!! Like Kev mentioned,, the throttle on these 1st Gens pretty much work like a potentiometer connected to a MPG device.. The more open ya twist er,, the faster the fuel disappears.. We have a number of guys around here that have perfected maximizing MPG on identical bikes to yours.. Hang around while your healing up (best wishes on that) and they will school you.. I have fired few shots on the earlier model of the 1st Gens (MK1 83/84 1200cc,, yours is a MK2 1300cc) and have seen 40 to 44 MPG on pretty regular basis with all of them.. Of course,, maintaining this economy is indicative to keeping the bike in tune (they really like regular carb syncing - simple to do),, as well as proper tire inflation and brake maintenance (keep those pads from dragging).. Many years of ownership, and wearing out a number of these great bikes out has taught me another thing,, the carb diaphrams dont last forever.. I usually check all mine in the spring before heading out into your neck of woods (LOVE THE DESERT) and its not uncommon to have a couple new pin holes to repair.. Lots of folks on here with TONS of info surrounding the care of and replacement of the diaphrams too.. Basically my friend - it sounds like YOU landed yourself one fine bike that with a little care will treat you with some VERY reliable, good MPG desert riding!! Also,, if you dont mind dipping down into the low 30's for MPG - you really can make that desert region seem a lot smaller:thumbsup: By the way,, regards for your love for the dirt!! I come from a Dirtbike, MXin, Harescramblin background here in Michigan.. Having cut my teeth on 68/69 Dt's in the 60's, than on to Elsinores back in the 70's, I ended up spending many many hours later in life on my KX500 baja buster in Destry Abbott mode - pretty familiar with the crash rashes you mention.. Hope your wounds heal fully and quickly so you get back out there and play!!! BRAAAAaaaaapp Puc

As the three of us waved goodbye to Tweeks gorgeous Blonde sister sitting on that trailer in a place called Roberts Missouri, my mind wondered off (it does that a lot these days) thinking about heritage and its importance to our existence.. If you follow along in this story you are eventually going to get introduced to a man and his wife from Japan who approached Tweeks while she was sitting among other much more socially acceptable bikes.. The look in their eyes told the story of some kind of a connection between a heritage that they shared with Tweeks.. Unlike Tweeks, my own heritage is one of a confusing mixed breed.. My Mom's Dads father's grandpa was a full blooded Cherokee Indian and my Dad's Dad's parents were immigrants from Germany who loved Northern Bean's and Sour Kraut.. Mom's mom was a real Southern Bell straight out of the Lil Rock area who learned to cook Southern Fried Chicken and Red Baked Beans with Bacon over the top of em at a very early age.. I never did care for my Dads Mom's Northern Bean's but I have always LOVED Sour Kraut - especially on a hotdog that is cooked Indian style over an open fire.. I have also ALWAYS completely enjoyed those Southern Style Red Bake Beans with Bacon on top and I can eat Southern Fried Chicken till that little flipper in the back of my throat cant swing back no more... I was happy to see a piece of my own heritage come into view as we crossed into Oklahoma and pulled into a town called Big Cabin. As Tweeks can attest, being greeted by a relative, even if its just a statue of one of your ancestors, is always a happy affair.. Definitely worthy of a picture and a tip of the old Harley Hat.. Avoiding the ick-spressway can be a challenge but, it can also be an adventure with little nuggets of gold to be picked up along the way.. Being greeted by that ol Indian and watching the trucks disappear on 44 were both nuggets in my book.. The two lane trail that led out of Big Cabin in a Southerly direction was a pretty nice one.. Kinda flat,, pretty straight,, small towns along the way type stuff... As is customary with CTFWing, the farther we traveled away from the interstate, the more interesting and to our liking Oklahoma became and the more REAL Oklahoma way of living we got to see. I had almost forgotten how rock solid patriotic and down to earth Okie's are until this iconic view appeared that refreshed my memory.. I was pleased to hear Tip yell - LOOK HONEY,, ITS MUSKGOEE OKLAHOMA USA!!!

Been swattin gremlin moths like crazy Thats cause I was playing around trying to get them pics to do what I want em to do Blue... I been trying to figure out a way to get rid of the pictures that accumulate at the bottom of each page after I have embedded them in the story - just thinking along the line of saving storage space within the VR system thingy.. I thought I had it by deleting the downloaded images from the Manage Attachments list after I had them embedded, it was working fine after I did that but,, then they disappeared:Laugh:. Dont worry Blue,,, I get er figured out..

Sitting here warming my feet by the fire, listening to ya'll chat,, I swallow the last little piece of pretty good hotdog - look up at Carl and say: THAT's a fact!!!

Quickstep,, husband to Aussie Annie and a good buddy of mine from down under, was telling me about something called a "swag".. Sounded pretty interesting.. Never did take no time to research it but always planned to,, just never enough time is there.. Anyway,, might be worth investigating for use in the US.. Knowing Alan and Annie,, may be able to get one shipped from Oz and have em stuff a baby Kangorooo and a Geelamonster inside that we could use as mascots during the International this year!!!